Figure 1.--Here Tolya Frolov lived in the village of Ulyanova. Here we see him in front of the ruins of his home. He was one of the hundreds of thousands of orphaned and displaced Soviet children as a result of the War.

One huge problem which developed during the War was large numbers of displaced children. As a result of the fighting as well as NAZI attrocuities and pilligaing of Soviet towns and villages, huge numbers of Soviet citizes were killed outright or died as a result of deportation or mistreatment. No one knows precisely how many Soviet citizens were killed, but most estimtes exceed 10 million people. This includes many children, but it also includes many parents. The NAZIs also shipped large numbers of Soviets west to serve a slave labor in Germany. No provision was made for any children they may have. The result was a huge number of orphaned or displaced children. This problem was especially severe in the occupied areas. The NAZIs ignored the problem because a primary war goal was to reduce the population of Slavs and the children in particular were of no economic value. Soviet authorities were thus left with a massive problem when they began liberating areas occupied by the NAZIs. Some children wondered the desolated cities or countryside. Many were taken in by orphanages. In some cases thei parents were dead. In other cases there parents or a parent survived the War but had difficulty finding what happened to their children.

War Damage

One huge problem which developed during the War was large numbers of displaced children. As a result of the fighting as well as NAZI attrocuities and pilligaing of Soviet towns and villages, huge numbers of Soviet citizes were killed outright or died as a result of deprivation or mistreatment. No one knows precisely how many Soviet citizens were killed, but most estimtes exceed 10 million people. This includes many children, but it also includes many parents.

Slave Labor

The NAZIs as part of their genocidal policies actually specifically targeted children. The survivors was a heart wrenching one and difficult to deal with because so many children were separated from their parents. Often the parents were killed in the War. Others were seized and transported to the Reich for slave labor. No provision were made for any dependants left behind, both children and the elderly. As part of the NAZI Hunger Plan these people were to be left to starve. The Germans did not feed slave and forced workers adequately. They had no desire to feed 'non-workers'. Hitler appointed Ernst Friedrich Christoph "Fritz" Sauckel, Gauleiter of Thuringia, as General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment (1942). He ws ordered to solve the labor shortage in the Reich. While Jews who could have solvd much of the problem were being killed, Sauckel began sending workers from the occupied territories into the Reich. In the west this was done beaureacatically and individuals were conscripted abd orderd to report for transport. In the east, individuals were commonly rounded up by syrrounding movie theaters or whole city blocks. Large numbers of Soviet cutuzens in Beylorussia and the Ukraine were seized and trnsported to the Rich. Sauckel's men were thus much less slective about who went into the rail cars. Speer complains that large numbers of ill and poorly suited individuals arrived. Many were sick because of the conditiins under which they were transported. It is likely that Sauckel's men included younger teenagers in these sweeps, but we do not think many very young children.

Soviet Children Displaced within the Soviet Union

There were three groups of children displaced within the Soviet Uinon. First were children from countries invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union during the first 2 years of the War (1939-41). This was during the period where the Soviets and NAZIs were allies and actively carving up Europe between thm in a seties of aggressions. The NKVD deported large nunvers of of non-Russian peoples (Balts, Poles, and Romanians) wwere deported to the Soviet Union, both Central Asia and Sibria. This was primarily done in family groups. Secoind were the childreb displaced by the chaos created by the NAZI invasion and attricites (1941-44). Many families were deparated. Large numbers of people fled east. Skilled workers were evacuated east along with factories. Conditions were dreadful in the areas occupied by the NAZIs. The result of the war damage, attrocities, and deportations were a huge number of orphaned or displaced children. This problem was especially severe in the occupied areas. The NAZIs ignored the problem because their goal was to reduce the population of Slavs and the children in particular were of no economic value. Soviet authorities were thus left with a massive problem when they began liberating areas occupied by the NAZIs. Some children wondered the desolated cities or countryside. Many were taken in by orphanages. In some cases thei parents were dead. In other cases there parents or a parent survived the War but had difficulty finding what happened to their children. Third was the Soviet ethnic populations that Stalin esignated as treasones. They were also deported to Cntral Asia and Siberia. They included the Volga Germans, Crunen Tigers, Chechens, and others.

Soviet Children Displaced outside the Soviet

Most displaced Soviet children were displaced domestically, because of the War or actiins taken by German and Germn allied forces or the Soviet NKVD. We note a small numbr of Soviet children found outside the Soviet Union, primrily in the Reich. This is complicated because the Soviet Union's boundaries changed as a result of the War. And we are not sure how these children ever got to the Reich, but there are a number of possibilities. First some of the women deported for labor my hace been pregnant or gotten pregnant while in labor camps. The Gernans killed most of thee babies, but some mothers may have managed to save them. Second, some chilren were interned as a result of anti-partisan operations. Germn security forces destroyed large numbrs if villages. In some causes they murdered the peoole. In other cases the women abd children were spared. This varied from commander to commander. we note some in German concentration camps in Poland. Some may have been moved to camps in the Reich in the final months of the war as the Red Army drove west. Third, may be some of the Lebensborn program, both childrn ccepted and rejected. Perhaps readers will know more aout these children.

Created: 4:14 AM 3/25/2005
Last updated: 5:30 AM 3/14/2015